Bicycles

In Japan both bicycles and scooters are very popular and common.  A lot of the people here don't have cars and the trains, buses, bikes, and scooters are their main form of transportation.  you can save a lot of money if you ride a bike around here.  Below is a picture of the parking lot outside of the train station by our house.

The bike section is always full and there is barely ever a car parked.  They even have two layer bike spots.

Since Bob doesn't have a bike at home and it will be more convenient here we decided to go ahead and get one. Work will pay for us to ship things home so that is not going to be an added expense.

I took this picture of him coming home from work from our balcony.

Bob even got a basket on the back of the bike so he could bring groceries home. Most of the bikes here have at least one basket.

Yesterday we didn't do anything very exciting.  A lot of things are still closed.  We went to church which did go better this week than last.  We are still feeling small aftershocks from the earthquake every once in a while.  And I am talking very small.  After the kids napped we went over to a members house for dinner.  it was so nice to eat a real meal that isn't from a restaurant.  We don't really cook in our apartment so it was a very nice change.  We even had cake for desert!  it was great.  And since we don't have a car they were gracious enough to pick us up and bring us to their house. Penelope was not happy about riding in a car seat.  I think she really likes the trains because she doesn't have to get buckled up.  They live in a typical Japanese house in a neighborhood.  they think they will probably live here for about 10 years although they only have to stay for the next two years.  Yesterday was kind of like the break from japan that we needed.  Now I am ready to get back out there and explore.